Tears to Tiara

Official summary, courtesy of Anime News Network : “ Set in a fictitious land during a medieval-like era of magic and fantasy, Tears to Tiara unfolds with the Divine Empire’s rise to power as it conquers and rules lands far and wide. On the island of Erin, still ruled by the Ancient Kingdom, the Goidelic people are attempting to sacrifice priestess Riannon to revive protagonist and demon king Arawn to lead the resistance against the Empire. Although the ritual fails and Riannon survives, the seal imprisoning the demon king is broken and Arawn is resurrected. Armed with mysterious and devastating powers and a human’s demeanor, Arawn joins Riannon, her brother and battalion commander, Arthur, as well as their team of fighters comprising a swordsman, an archer and a quintet of magical pixies, in the epic struggle against the Divine Empire.”

First off, I like the opening song, and the closing song is catchy. The costumes remind be a bit of a cross between .hack and berserk. Actually, the opening song sequence has this one part with two guys are fighting an army, and one takes a bite out of an apple, tosses it to the other, keeps fighting, and then gets bit back for another bite. I like that. The episode, in the way of first episodes, is a cliffie. Ah, joy.

*SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 TO FOLLOW!!!*

The show starts out with a bit of a history lesson, and how all the ages up till now have failed. It then it cuts to the opening song, which I've already estabished had some cool scenes. After the opening you meet a girl Riannon, praying at a window at night while holding an arrow head. She's praying that something she forsaw will not come to pass, but in case it does, she sent the villagers out. You then see her brother, Arthur, is out with the rest of the villages men hunting these massive wild boar. Unfortunatly, while the protection is away, bad guys come to play. A high priest and an army show up treatening massive violence unless they are given what they came for. Riannon comes out and tells them that s

he's the only one in the village right now, so threats are pointless. She's sent the men off hunting, and the women and children are picking mushrooms. The priest scoffs at the idea of picking mushrooms in the middle of the night, but then realizes that she must be the Oricle he's come to see.

Well, kidnap and kill is a better way to put it. He tells her that he's planning on resurecting the demon king Arawn to destroy the world, and the only thing he needs now is the blood of a daughter of the Elvin King. Riannon just happens to meet that requirement from somewhere in her ansestery. Being a smart girl, and knowing that these guys were coming for her, Riannon pulls out th

e arrowhead and holds it at her throat. She says that dieing now, insead of being a sacrifice that'll end the world, is acceptable to her. Just before she kills herself, however, one of the army-men shows up with two small children. Turns out the children were worried about Riannon, who not only is the village orical, but the chief's daughter. Of course, this gives the priest the ope

ning he needs. He tells Riannon to go ahead and kill herself to escape her fate. It's not going to help the kids. He'll just take his time killing them, since he really likes killing people. Riannon gets his to swear to his god that he will not hurt the children, ever, if she goes with him.

The priest forces her to give him her true name -the name that gives her power- and takes her from the village. Meanwhile, Arthur is getting the feeling that somethi

ng is very, very wrong, so he and the other men go racing back to the village. They find the place is a lot worse shape then they left it, and it's completely empty. Well, ecept for the two children who lead to Riannon getting grabbed. They quickly tell Arthur what happened, and he just as quickly whipps the men up, taking some with him and leaving the rest the guard the village. Turns out he's "first knight", and there is no way anyones kidnapping and killing his sister.

The priest in the meantime is busy teying to reserect the demon king, and he's basiclly repeating the same information you found out in the village. Riannon is standing next t

o him, obviously not all there, ready to be eaten by a big evil demon king. Arthor is fighting his way towards his sister, and of course slowly starts to lose the rest of the guys he came in with. Don't worry, they're fine, since the village apparently raises Uber-fighters that are more then a match for army soldgers, they've just split off to give him more time....or were trapped behind a rock wall when the demon king started to get up. While the demon king (and yes, I know he has a name, but at this point he looks like a freaky fire with a face, so I'm not using his name) is busy being told by the priest that he should do the priest a solid, because the guy let him out and all that, Arthur is almost thought the rest of the army. Just as the Priest is telling Mr. creapy demon to eat the girl, Arthur comes into the room. Naturally, it's

a huge room, and everything is going on at the far side, on to

p of a giant alter with lots and lots of stairs.

So, Arthur is running, trying to get to his sisiter, and if there was any doubt about that, he keeps shouting her name, and Arawn takes human form and starts to approach Rianno while the priest is just being creepy. Then we cut to the closing song. It was a nice song....

A shot from the opening, Arthur and Arawn fighting...remember, an apple a day keeps the army at bay.

The priest, and Riannon with a not-quite-solid Arawn. Tell me, why do I get the idea that even Arawn thinks the preist is nuts?

Arthur is trying to make it to his sister, the priest, and Arawn (now looking very corperal). Great Cardio workout.

*SPOILERS END!!!*

All and all, I really liked the first episode. Ok, The figting really makes the village men able to take on anything, but given the size of the boar they took down, I'll go with it. The episode felt really short to me, but I guess that is a sign that I enjoyed it. You were kind of dumped in the middle of things, but background was given, or at least partcial background. It wasn't done in a "but you already know that, don't you?" conversation between two charactors, but was actually done in a believeable - almost - mannor. That being the case, I'm going to give this series, based off the first episode, an 8/10. I'll look forward to seeing more.